26 year old Shaun Kelly of Ballymagan, Buncrana was the driver of a vehicle which crashed killing 8 men. Seven of the dead were passengers in Mr. Kelly’s car and the eighth victim was Hugh Friel (66) a pensioner from the Clonmany area who was returning to his home from bingo.
Shaun Kelly was sentenced to two four years with the last two suspended and has been disqualified from driving for ten years. Mr Kelly had pleaded guilty to the charges in relation to the crash which occurred on the 11th of July 2010 on the main Clonmany to Buncrana Road.
Sean Kelly was the sole survivor of the worst road traffic collision in state history when his car collided with the car driven by Mr Friel.
The seven victims who were killed travelling in Mr Kelly’s car were , Paul Doherty, 19, Ciaran Sweeney, 19, Mark McLaughlin, 21, Eamonn McDaid, 22, Patrick PJ McLaughlin, 21, Damien McLaughlin, 21 and James McEleney, 23.
Victim impact reports were read at the hearing and one of the victims ,Mark McLaughlin’s (21) mother had a note read out stating that she could not write a victim impact statement because nothing can describe what it is like to lose your child.